


The story of a trickster

by Boothy996



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-05-23 12:20:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14934173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boothy996/pseuds/Boothy996
Summary: This is the story of a trickster, but at the same time it is also the story of his everyday life and all that it entails. How will Akira Kurusu, the alleged Delinquent, survive his year at Shujin Academy? Find out by following his tale.(Scheduled to release first few chapters weekly and then whenever able to after that)





	1. The arrival and the chance encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira arrives at his new home for a year, and a surprise encounter leaves a lasting impression

“Damn brat, I’ll sue!” Those were the last words he remembered before his whole life went into ruin. Akira Kurusu had a strong sense of justice and it was second nature to him that he should help people if they needed it, however he could not have foreseen that this would be the reason for such a horrible occurrence to take place. Did he regret it? No, of course not. He wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he had simply ignored such an event taking place and as such even through all the false rumours and labels people had placed on him, he simply ignored them, knowing the truth of the matter himself, even if nobody else would believe him.

Akira woke up with a start, speakers blaring their announcements. ‘This was his stop’, he thought to himself, as he proceeded to exit the train, the incident still fresh in his mind, thanks to his dreams. He would be spending the next year here, in Yongen Jaya as he had been transferred over to Shujin Academy, seeing as they were the only ones that would seemingly accept him there. He assumed this would be to show off how they could ‘convert’ him into a model pupil, improving the opinions set on them, however there was no reason given so he couldn’t be too sure of this.

*vrrt* *vrrt*, his phone had an alert, which was strange with there being nobody that had his phone number, he thought it best to erase any numbers he had so that he didn’t cause trouble for anybody who happened to trust the rumours rather than him, and as such there shouldn’t be any reason for somebody to message or phone him at all. Pulling his phone out, he glanced at the screen to see a strange symbol, red and black with some sort of eye centred in what seemed to be an application, however this was unfamiliar and therefore the first thought crossing his mind was ‘What is this thing?’ Acting soon after, he interacted with it, thinking that he could discover the reason for this app being on his phone.

Nothing happened, or at least that’s what was initially the thought process here however, the conversations in the streets around him slowed, looking around he could see people, vehicles, everything had come to a complete halt. Bewildered enough at this situation, the next thing to be seen was a large blue flame growing and expanding, shifting its form into what seemed vaguely familiar, but how? As such thoughts drifted in his mind he then saw what appeared to be himself, in some sort of odd looking costume, chains and blue fire surrounded him and a confident, almost rebellious look showed on his face. The very thought of this made him unconsciously grin at the aspect, whilst his eyes were drawn to the large figure stood behind his other self.

Just as sudden as it stopped, time resumed, along with his awareness of the environment around him. What was that about? Firstly, the app should be erased. It seemed suspicious as is however, with what just happened this would be something of utmost importance now. Akira proceeded to the person willing to house him for the remainder of the year, Sojiro Sakura. Whoever this was must have known what he was facing, so the question was, why? He doubted money was the reason, however this didn’t really make a difference when the facts that he should really think about are how to show his true self to this man and gain his trust, which he had a feeling would be much easier said than done in all honesty.

Finally, near the residence in which he would be staying at Akira began asking around, enquiring as to where this was exactly. Through following the guidance, he was able to find the house, along with a strange girl standing outside. She seemed quite serious and was wearing what seemed to be a Shujin Academy uniform however, before he could ask anything she turned to face him, alerted to his presence. Something felt odd, Akira had never felt something like this before, as he felt his chest tighten, which apparently had showed as the girl caught wind of this and proceeded towards him.

“Are you alright? Just now… you were in pain, correct?”, She must have known so the only logical response was an honest response. “Y-Yeah I just felt my chest tighten a bit, that’s all.” Akira spoke, in a way that he thought sounded less pained in a way to try and lessen any worry. Quickly snapping out of this though he resumed with his logical thought process and became curious about the true identity of this girl. “Are you by chance living here?” the girl seemed a bit taken aback, “It’s just that I assumed the resident here would be busy working at this time, and that he lived alone,” judging from what he had heard prior to this at least. The serious looking girl seemed quite calm, even though they had undoubtedly never spoke before and now that he thought about it, this girl seemed quite beautiful. Brown hair that seemed silky and smooth as chocolate, red eyes that showed a strong conviction and fiery will, fair skin that seemed so soft, like velvet and whoa whoa what were these thoughts about??

Quickly snapping out of this daze, Akira realised that he had been staring at her for who knows how long now and in a flustered flurry he quickly tried to resume the topic “W-well anyway if you aren’t then it’s fine I guess, I’ll go find the café I heard about then, see ya” and with a wave he went off, leaving a confused yet suspicious look on her face. This didn’t have an effect on Akira though, seeing as he was almost solely thinking it was fortunate he left when he did, due to how he felt like he had become bright red in the process of realising his actions.

“Leblanc, right?” The café he was told about was where he should be going for at the moment so after asking a few people his trail had led him to his destination, a small, warm looking café in an alley nearby. Preparing himself, he took a step into the shop, not knowing what to expect. He was met with an old-fashioned, retro looking space where the fragrance of coffee was strong yet not overpowering. Upon observing the new environment, he saw an elderly couple sat at a table whilst a moderately aged man was stood behind the counter, seemingly absentminded.

Still thinking back to his prior encounter, he felt his thoughts drifting slightly, when he noticed the bartender was looking at him. “Right, that was today, I had wondered what kind of punk I’d be taking care of, but you’re the guy, huh?” Akira noticed then that the elderly couple were getting ready to leave and waved in a friendly manner as they left. “Nice to meet you Sakura-san” Akira spoke, holding no positive expectations from the upcoming conversation.

*Meanwhile in the streets nearby the Sakura residence*

“I was hoping to ask this transfer student some questions however, it seems that I will have to put that off for now, however…” She thought back to the frizzy haired young man she had met. “Something felt off about him, but I can’t quite put my finger on it… he was wearing a Shujin uniform so I should be able to find him when he goes to school, right?” These thoughts and questions continued to present themselves as she proceeded to go home.

*Back at Leblanc*

“You may already know this, but I’m the one who’ll be responsible for you the coming year, so if I see you cause any trouble, I won’t hesitate to kick you out, that’s the last thing I need.” Sojiro sighed, “I heard the story, some drunk guy was pressuring a woman, then you stepped in, the guy fell, sued you and now here you are.” ‘Here it comes,’ thought Akira meekly, “That’s what happens when you stick your nose in adult business so now you’re on probation for the year. You’ll be attending school at Shujin academy so get up tomorrow morning and we’ll go sort out your enrolment, for now you should go to your room, it’s just upstairs”

Akira proceeded upstairs as told to find a dusty mess of an attic, “It’s big” he pointed out which was followed up by Sojiro’s own statement “It’s gonna be your job to clean this room, but I’ll at least provide some bed sheets.” Sojiro left following this, leaving Akira to his own devices. ‘I should clean this room as much as I can right now’ he thought, since if this room was more pleasant, his probation would be much more bearable as a result. “Well, I better get to work,”

\--

“Phew, that should do for now” Akira had finished the vast majority of the cleaning, leaving the odd few areas with some junk to sort another time and with that the exhausting day seemed over, until he checked his phone. He was greeted by the same odd symbol from earlier, which was quite strange since he was sure he had deleted it, so the best thing to do would be to try again and see what would happen. Following this, he decided that he should rest early, then wake up on time since tomorrow would be eventful. This was going to be a long year and Akira Kurusu had no idea how true this fact could be.

“Trickster, welcome to my velvet room”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi this is just a quick end of chapter note saying thanks a bunch for reading this first chapter andyou may be wondering about the other game pairings, which I shall explain - they won't be the main focus of this fanfic however, they are present keep in mind. Also, note that in future I will be going for a few prequels to this for persona 3 and 4 in order to actually use these tags more.
> 
> On another note, thanks to a few fellow fanfic writers, some of which are actually long since finishing but nevertheless thanks to the following for the great inspiration and creativity that helped me do this
> 
> Downz with Crimson  
> RyanoftheAbyss with a bunch of works like Phantom Heroes and the sadly discontinued Persona 5: True Phantoms  
> FlOrangey with One Year on Probation  
> BurntMonjayaki01 with The Fool's Odyssey  
> PixieRed with Makoto's Lies  
> Circuit with Queen of Hearts  
> ChibiGirl92 with Akira Sakura, which I was extremely sad about the stopping of
> 
> All of these have carried me through to this point and I sincerely thank them for how they've helped me and I look forward to more of their chapters, which should definitly be checked out if anyone has time that reads this, but it would be easier for you to just search them so I didn't put the URL's. (SORRY!)
> 
> As shown in the summary, the schedule will be weekly for the first few chapters, since they are already made, but the rest will be made whenever I have time to create and finish the chapters.
> 
> Once again thanks for reading and I hope you look forward to future chapters and fanfics.


	2. A long night and a longer day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira visits the velvet room and ends up visiting the school. What awaits him with both of these? You'll know soon enough but there'll be a bit of drama incoming!

When he came to, the area around him that used to be his room looked a bit different, or rather it was very different, like it wasn’t even close to the dust cupboard he was staying in. Maybe he was kidnapped? Nah, couldn’t be. Whilst the thoughts were there, he turned towards a deep chuckling that was echoing around him a bit. “Who’s there? What’s going on?” The laughing grew a bit before slowing to a halt. “Trickster, welcome to my velvet room” HIS, velvet room? That sounded a bit off. No no, more importantly, velvet room? That sounds vaguely familiar somehow. Either way for the moment, he needed information. “Why am I here?” the old man, now that he looked closer, was abnormally tall for his hunched stature, had a long, almost beak-like nose and bloodshot eyes which looked like they never blinked.

Then there were what appeared to be twins around 10 maybe 11 years old standing outside of the cell, apparently dressed in some velvet-blue clothing, ironically, whist giving off an odd vibe before they spoke and broke his train of thought. “So, you’ve come to inmate, you are in the presence of our master so stand up straight!” She seems to be a bossy, probably sadistic one, then the other started, “Do not be alarmed inmate, the you in reality is fast asleep and so you are only experiencing this as a dream “, Somehow, she seemed scarier despite her lack of aggression and that’s when they halted speaking and made a clearer view of this strange man, stepping out of the way.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance trickster this is a place between dream and reality, mind and matter. Only those who have signed the contract may enter. My name is ‘IGOR’, you would do well to remember this.” Again, something seemed off when he spoke his name, maybe he was lying through his teeth? It didn’t seem like that, though he didn’t actually open his mouth so… no matter, a contract though? What contract? Before he could think more upon it though, Igor continued to speak “Though I am quite surprised, this room reflects that of your hearts, that a prison would appear as such, you truly are a prisoner of fate.” Too right… “But I have actually come to speak to you about more important matters, regarding the coming ruin that will end this world.” “…Coming ruin? *sigh* This sounds like such a video game scenario…”

Akira awoke from his odd dream, in which he was called a ‘prisoner of fate’, with some weird long nosed man called Igor, and a couple of young girls in blue costumes, Caroline and Justine, where he was informed of a coming ruin and a few other confusing facts, however putting these thoughts to one side, he got dressed and ready to visit Shujin for enrolment, after all that was probably a side effect of the long day he had and the subsequent exhaustion that occurred

“Hey, you awake yet?” Sojiro called from downstairs, leaving Akira to follow the voice downstairs to the café. “Seems like you’re ready, you may get lost so I’ll drive you for today but from tomorrow onwards you can use the trains.” This half surprised him since he figured there would be some more hostility in what he said, but since not he proceeded to head onwards to the school he would be attending for the next year or so.

When they finally arrived at the school, Akira could only gaze at the large structure in front of him, Shujin Academy, a school for the successful. “Alright then, let’s get this out of the way, I’ve got a business to run after all.” Not bothering to hide his irritation, Sojiro let out a sigh. Trailing after Sojiro on their way to the Principal’s office, he noted the various locations of the different classrooms and facilities for future reference when he started attending. “…make sure that you tell the boy what needs to be said, one wrong move and he’s expelled, understood?” It was mildly irritating that he could still hear the principal talk about him like he wasn’t there, or did he just think of Akira that lowly. After the discussion, Akira was told to wait outside the office, probably because the principal didn’t want him to hear the rest of whatever he was going to tell Sojiro, so whilst waiting he decided to look around a bit, whilst remaining in the vicinity of the room. There weren’t many places that really stood out, so giving up he returned outside the office to wait however, there he saw a girl with brown, short hair, eavesdropping on Sojiro and the principal?

This seemed quite bizarre, was she in some newspaper or journalism club? Looking for a scoop on the ‘dangerous new transfer student?’ Well either way, he thought that he should make his presence known to her as to not cause alarm. “Excuse me, are you okay?” With a jolt she turned around and seemed immediately familiar. “A-ah, you were the boy I met yesterday, w-what do you mean? Everything is fine so if you would, return to class and pretend you never saw me here, okay?” This awkwardness seemed quite cute, however since she was there yesterday, it looks like she really may have been… well, that wasn’t too important but he couldn’t go back to class when he wasn’t in one yet so he leaned against the wall. “Sorry, but I can’t go back to class, I need to be assigned one first miss…” “Makoto Nijima, that is my name, and what do you mean-” she paused, her eyes widened, but Akira saw this coming from a mile away, this was to be expected from meeting a ‘criminal’ but before she could say anymore, the door opened revealing Sojiro, sighing and looking just as bored as when he arrived this morning.  
The sudden opening of the door surprised the pair, and quickly stepping aside Sojiro proceeded out the door, “Come on kid, everything’s been sorted out now so don’t cause trouble and keep your head down okay-?” and that’s when he noticed Nijima, “Oh, sorry you had to put up with this guy, he hasn’t been too much trouble I assume?” with a unprepared voice she responded “O-oh, no everything was fine I was just walking by when I noticed him stood outside, so I thought I’d introduce myself” She started, knowing fully that this was a lie, “Like I was saying, my name is Makoto Nijima, Student Council President, Nice to meet you” Akira was quite stunned at how fast she recovered, as well as how the first person that he would meet after coming to this transfer would be the Student council president, of all people, however, remembering the embarrassing moment he had last night when he met her first, he felt his face redden and quickly looked away, “Y-yeah, nice to meet you miss Nijima…”

After this odd reunion, Sojiro took Akira back, or that was the plan at least, “Damn traffic, it’s like it won’t budge an inch… “Sojiro began, followed by not bothering to hide his rage when he said “You’re getting the train from now on, okay? Geez, I can’t believe I decided to take you in…” This also stood out as bizarre from Akira’s point of view as well, however he knew he wouldn’t get a straight answer even if he asked, so he didn’t bother, he had already got the idea that it was the payments from the government. “Oh yeah, so whaddya think?” Absentmindedly, Akira responded “She’s beautiful…” before realising his slipup all too late and a smug but all-knowing grin spread across his caretaker’s face “I meant the school, but you’ve already set your eyes on her, huh… Well good luck with that, she said she was the council president, the definition of law abiding and from the looks of it, it’s true. So, you’ll need all the luck you can get.” Was Sojiro concerned over this? He acted like that of a fatherly figure, or what Akira assumed was one…

The rest of the night was simple enough, he got changed and went to sleep early, to give enough time to be there early the next day, after all he didn’t want to cause any more trouble.

*Shujin Student Council room*

Makoto continued to study the files and reports on him, she needed as much information as possible to make sure that his rehabilitation in school would go well. “All I’m getting is his one offense, and the rest of his record is quite clean, maybe even better... Why would he do something like attack somebody with this record? It doesn’t make sense…” She sighed, after all the irregularities in the case itself were bad enough, but the inconsistent records too, were making things difficult. This was going to take some time.

*Outside the school gate*

“Understood, Mishima? You do this tonight, or else…” The burly man cracked his knuckles threateningly towards the scrawny student as he nodded, followed by running away like a mouse from a predator. “This guy isn’t welcome in my castle… and he won’t be staying” He grinned, the thoughts of his castle becoming clean again floated in his mind, filling him with joy.

*Back at LeBlanc*

“Welcome back, inmate…” The gruff, distorted voice spoke again, he was back in the velvet room. “Very soon you will awaken and when that time comes, you will be reborn as the trickster who will save the world and prevent ruin…” and with a suspicious smile he finished “And only then can your rehabilitation begin, I look forward to it,” and with a chuckle he grew drowsy and before he knew it Akira had awoken in bed. This was an unusual recurring dream to have…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest, I really wasn't expecting as much when I posted the first chapter, since it was really something I made when I was bored and needed to let off some steam, but since then I've seen that people have actually viewed it, which made me think to make more stuff to add into the chapters I've already made, meaning there's a lot of work for me to do now but its better than nothing at all!  
> Thanks to anyone who reads these chapters and also, please tell me whether I should change the MC name to Ren or just keep it as Akira, its like that now because I started writing last year I think, but either way look forward to the next chapter and also, I love the Akira/Makoto ship so expect more of that in this fanfic


	3. DejaVu and a twist?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After another strange dream, we'll see Akira's first journey at school, but will it go as planned? Let's see for ourselves shall we?

After another night of weird dreams, this time unusually quick in comparison, Akira got dressed and prepared to set off to school for his first day, hoping everything would turn out well enough today. As he got downstairs the smell of curry and coffee filled the air and there he saw a cup overflowing with steam, and a plate flooded with curry and rice, sat at the counter. “Here, it’s your breakfast. Finish that and hurry to school, ok? And stay out of trouble, please” Curry for breakfast? Well, whatever, thought Akira as he wolfed it down. The taste was indescribable and left a large impression. “Thank you for the food, I honestly didn’t think I’d get to try something this good for a while, anyway good bye” and as the door shut behind him he thought he heard a small chuckle. “So, he can use manners” Sojiro murmured as he started preparing for the day.

The rain came out of nowhere, so since he didn’t have an umbrella, since it was unexpected, Akira decided to go under some shelter for a bit. Whilst looking around for any signs of the rain stopping he spotted a hooded girl running into the shelter too, before removing the hood. Immediately a flood of blond surged from her hood. She seemed foreign, or at least partly and from the looks of it just managed to escape the rain before it got too heavy. She turned to face Akira, surprised to see him and gave a small smile.

Something felt odd when they made eye contact, it felt strange and even though she would probably be deemed a beauty by most that wasn’t the case here, rather she seemed familiar, even though they were strangers though this was probably what he had put down to stress from what led to being where he was, but still… This was an odd feeling of déjà vu. After a moment they broke eye contact and continued to wait for the rain to calm down. Suddenly, he realised what that feeling was about, “Ah, that was it! You remind me of Uncle Yu’s friend, that must be it! Oh… um…” He just blurted that out didn’t he… damn it! The girl stared at him for a few seconds before bursting out laughing. “Hahaha what are you even saying, ah geez that caught me off guard, so… who are you again?”

“I’m Akira Kurusu, I just transferred into Shujin so today's my first day, oh and sorry for that outburst” She looked more comfortable to be around him now at least, and with that the introductions continued. “I’m Ann Takamaki, nice to meet you Akira, and who was it you were talking about earlier?” After thinking for a moment, he remembered, “Ah you mean Rise? She’s a friend of my Uncle, she somehow reminds me a bit of you, that’s all.” At this she stopped and stared, before crying out with shock “Rise? You mean Rise Kujikawa the idol!??” Oh, now that she mentioned it, he probably should have withheld that. “Um, what do you mean? I have no idea what you’re talking about haha… me and my big mouth…” well at least he broke the ice.

After a while of conversing, the rain began to thin out, “Well it looks like the rains not too bad anymore so let’s-“ however they were cut off at the sound of a car pulling over in front of them. The window rolled down and an ugly, face popped out with a large head and mop-like hair, he seemed around 30 or 40 years old. “Hey want me to drive you to school? We’ll be there in no time” The girl seemed unnerved at first before responding “Oh, um…” and then the man turned to Akira “…and what about you, need a ride?” but before he could think of a response he saw some contempt in the man’s face, and a sense of danger coming from him and almost instantly responded “No thanks , I’ll be fine, but I was actually going to be given a small tour by Ann, and since I don’t know where it is we were gonna walk there ourselves since I brought a couple of spare umbrellas” he knew the way but just the way the guy oozed ‘creep’, and the way she reacted to him turning up? There’s no way she wants this. This just means a bit of lying, nothing much “The rains thinning out, and so is the wind, so the umbrellas should be useable without turning inside out now, thanks for the offer though” and with no room for argument, the man sighed before admitting a begrudged defeat, “I got it, that’s very generous of you, considering his record and all” and with a smug grin he left. After that she turned to him “…record?” but before he could answer, some splashing sounds came from down the road.

A few seconds later, a boy around his age came running, with blonde dyed hair and a messy uniform, however also a feeling of familiarity like before. The boy did not bother to hide his hatred for somebody, “That bastard Kamoshida…” and then he turned to Akira “Hey, you see where he went?” Confused, he responded in hopes of trying to figure out the situation “Kamoshida? Who’s that?” and then with a bewildered look the boy shifts his attentions to the girl next to him, “Ann? Why’re you here?” Deciding that before any of this, he should try not to be late, Akira broke into the conversation “Um actually, we should get to school first, we can talk on the way, and sorry but I haven’t actually got an umbrella” after receiving a confused look from the boy and quick laugh from Ann, they started walking.

*Inside the school building*

“Hey, did you hear about the new transfer student?” “You mean the one in the rumours?” “I heard he assaulted some guy” “I heard he killed a guy!” “I bet he starts a fight if you go near him” “He probably carries a knife with him” rumours continued to circulate…

*Outside Shujin Academy*

“So… about that record? What did he mean? I mean… you did kinda help me out with that incident earlier” at this, the boy noticed what they were saying “Wait, did Kamoshida do something to ya? I swear that pervy teachers gonna pay one day… ah right, you a transfer student? That explains why you don’t know anyone, names Ryuji Sakamoto, nice to meet ya! Oh and don’t pay attention to the rumours you hear around here, they’re usually a bunch of bullshit…” and then he stared at the ground for a bit. “You’re kinda like a couple of people my uncle knows, dunno why you remind me of them though, I mean Ryuji, you remind me a bit of this textile shop owner, he looks like one scary guy, but he’s really cool” “Textile shop? What are you talkin' about? I guess I’ll take it as a compliment, but anyway, what was that about a record? You in that record book? What was it called again...” After half sighing and half laughing, Akira finished “I’ll explain after school today if you wanna hear it, is the roof okay?”

*Faculty office*

“You actually came on time, guess that’s a good thing. Thanks, you’re making my job far easier with this” Ms Kawakami looked tired, like she did a week’s worth overtime “Um miss, are you okay? You seem tired…” This seemingly surprised her since she sat upright and tried to shake off the tiredness “Huh? What makes you say that? Honestly, I’m fine all I need is some sleep and I’ll be fine! Now then, before first period starts, someone wanted to meet you, so head up to the student council room, okay? It's just next to the library, on the 3rd floor.”

*knock*  *knock* “Enter”

Within his bag, Akira’s phone continued to show it’s red screen, with ‘Kamoshida’, and 'Shujin Academy’ listed in their respective areas, only missing one thing. “Awaiting final keyword until transportation to the destination.”

*???*

“I wonder how Akira’s adjusting to life in the city?”

“He’ll manage, after all he’s kind, right Yu?”

“We’ll see, for now let’s sort out the next guest bookings so that we can plan that ‘coincidental meeting’ with him, after all, its been a while since we last saw him, and I’m a bit worried about something at the moment Yukiko, something seems… off somehow”

“Well, you could always ask him about any bizarre happenings like monsters, ooh or maybe some ghosts ahaha-”

“Hehe Yeah, we’ll see”

 …Where had Igor gotten to?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I got really active with this latest chapter and rethought everything, meaning a waaay earlier release than I thought. Hope you like the 'twist', the familiar faces, and the cliffhanger that will be leading off the first metaverse adventure. Also, sorry for the notes if they've been stupid but I figured out what was wrong so huzzah! they should be all fixed now at looong last


	4. The meeting and the arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira starts his school life, and begins to find out the horrible secrets the school may be hiding

*Student council room*

So that’s who wanted to see him, huh. “It seems you came in one time, that’s good to know. However…” Akira closes the door behind him, silencing the whispers outside, “…It seems your record was leaked, this is quite the problem however I will still expect you to give it your all in your studies and uphold your behaviour please.” ‘This was going to be a tough ten minutes before homeroom, however this time a genius plan would save him heh.’ “I understand, and I promise to surpass your expectations if possible” ‘how’s this for a plan? Speaking with her is no problem at last!’ “I see, that’s good to hear, also I heard you came in with two individuals in your year today, correct?” ‘Wonder why that’s so important…’ “Yeah, I guess? Ann and Ryuji, I met them on my way here. I was actually going to try and meet with them after school today. Is there something wrong with that?” “No, please don’t worry. If anything, it’s a good thing to have friends earlier on that you can rely on. Now then onto the main subject of this meeting, how are your grades?” ‘Well according to his last test, he was pretty smart. That could just be a different system than Shujin though.’ “I’m about average, maybe a bit better? Why do you ask?” ‘with this the conversation appears to be finalising, he’s almost survived.’ “Then I propose that we have study sessions every Wednesday, we can study in this room after school on those days. Is that fine for you?” “Let’s see… Wednesday actually should work, as long as nothing urgent shows itself. So that’s fine by me, now if you’ll excuse me homeroom is starting so-“ “Hold it” ‘Oh shit.’

“I have one question that’s been bugging me all throughout this meeting” ‘Did she see through it? The brilliant plan that turned not so brilliant near the end? The panic had caused him to rush a bit to leave.’ “You… haven’t made eye contact once, actually you haven’t looked at me in general, is there some kind of problem? It’s actually quite rude honestly. Do you have something against me perhaps?” “That could never be the case! Ah…” ‘Oh no, he made eye contact, the plan failed! Bail out!’ and with that, Akira bolted, leaving a slightly confused Makoto behind.

“What on earth… He seemed quite flustered, but what could he have meant? In any case at least the study sessions are arranged now.” Those words kept echoing back, he sounded a bit angry, almost hurt but why? This was a bit bothersome, and then there was the lack of eye contact. This situation was curious, and it seems like something that’s worth looking into, so this can start with those study sessions. “Huh? Why does my face feel a bit warm? This is odd...”

*Class 2-D*

“Hello, I’m Akira and I’ll be here for the coming year so… Please take care of me?” At this there were more whispers about stupid rumours, knives and other stuff. One person was trying to stifle their laughter however, next to the window in a seat near the back. “Was it that bad? I thought people say that all the time. Uncle Yu said this was normal when you transfer though… Ah, you’re Ann right?” At this she waved with a smile. Kawakami began to resume the homeroom “Okay then, Since you two know each other you can sit behind Takamaki, is that okay?” With a nod, Ann adds a thumbs up. After finding his seat a bunch of people start gossiping about Ann. “Excuse me, but please don’t speak ill of Ann, she’s really not like that.” At this attempt at defence, the other students all look away and quieten down, though one person is just staring at his desk, covered in cuts and bruises. ‘How did he get those?’

*Rooftop*

After a long day of rumours and lessons Akira went up to the roof, in hopes of meeting with Ann and Ryuji, someone else was waiting there however. She had dark hair in a ponytail and wore a bandage around her leg. She also had various bruises, which seemed quite recently made. She seemed to be staring at the ground beyond the fence of the roof “Um, excuse me have you seen a couple of blondes around here? I was going to talk to them about something.” At this she turned to face him. “Oh? Um… I haven’t seen you before, are you that transfer student?” ‘Wow, the rumour mill is really vast’ After letting out a sigh he responded “Yup, the one and only. Ah, but about the rumours-“ “They’re probably fake, right? You don’t seem bad, and I have a close friend like you, trampled by rumours all day, everyday.” This time the girl sighed. “Thanks for not being convinced by them, anyway, whatcha doin up here?” She resumed staring at the ground. “Well, the ground is pretty far from up here right? I thought I’d try and get as much freedom as I could for now. Volleyball practice used to be fun…” before she could resume her conversation however, the door opened to reveal an ugly face he’d much rather forget. “There you are Suzui, Volleyball practice started and you don’t wanna be late now, do you?” Showing an irritating grin, the girl shuddered and began forwards. ‘Not again… This guy… he…’

“Huh?” She had bumped into something on her way, that something being the transfer student. “You again, huh… you know, there’s no camera up here, and no passer-by’s either. No teachers, nobody but me and you two huh.” The muscle head cracked his knuckles and stepped forwards. “You know I really wanted to find a reason, you cock-blocked me from giving Ann a ride.” The girl’s eyes widened “Ann?” Akira kept in front of her and gave her a glance back. “When I tell you to, run for the door, I’ve got an idea. She nodded, still shaky at the thought of the situation. “I’m really gonna enjoy this, it may be even better than when I broke Sakamoto’s leg, boy the rush I got from that.” Akira’s inner thoughts were racing, full of hatred for the man in front of him. “What an absolute douchebag… So how did you get Ann to nearly do that? Doesn’t seem like your type. Then there’s you in general, you kinda look like your face hit a wall. A lot.” At this, the man lunged at him. Unfortunately, Akira was taught something along the lines of being agile growing up so he managed to evade with ease, taking the girl with him. “Now!” she jumped a bit before bolting to the door, Akira shortly behind her giving Kamoshida a smug grin, whilst he showed a set of keys to him.

“Haah… that was scary, but everything should be fine now. Ah right, I’m Akira Kurusu, nice to meet you.” After catching her breathe she replied “Shiho Suzui. Did you lock him out? He’ll end up getting you in trouble now…” After a short laugh, he responded “Well, these aren’t the roof keys, they’re just my house keys from back home. He doesn’t know that though.” At this both of them start laughing off the events. A moment later footsteps could be heard coming towards them, it was Ann and Ryuji. “Ah you’re here. Um, I know I said the roof but… can we move somewhere else instead?” Ryuji nodded, a bit confused, whilst Ann noticed Shiho. “Shiho? I thought you would be at practice, why are you here, with Akira?” Shiho looked down a bit “It’s hard to explain…”

*Outside Shujin Academy*

Ryuji was the first to react to what just happened, after hearing about it from the pair. “That rat bastard, I can’t believe it. I swear he treats this place like his castle, but I swear to god, he’s gonna get what’s comin to him-Ouch!” A sudden pain shot through their heads before it faded. “W-what was that? My head just started hur...ting…?” All of them stared at where the school used to be, and instead where a castle now stood. “This day just gets longer and longer, gimme a break” sighed Akira. "Navigation complete"

*Rooftop*

“I’ll kill that cocky brat I swear…” A sudden thought occurred was the door even locked? Those didn’t actually look like the rooftop keys. Muttering curses, he walked towards the door, and went to open it, which it did. “…” He yelled. He cursed. He swore to rid this castle of his of all of those vermin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit late on this chapter since I had to write from scratch with no ideas coming to me, sorry if it's lacking a bit and since the chapter was dragging a tad bit (and I wanted to finish and go to sleep) I ended up cutting the metaverse visit a bit short. More character introductions though, and lets see how things work out with another metaverse visitor, shall we?


	5. The First Castle Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The school turned into a castle? What's going on here? Akira finds out the hard way, (So does Ryuji XD)

*Shujin Academy?*

“Um, what happened to the school?” Akira was the first to speak up, snapping everyone out of their daze. “I’m pretty sure it wasn’t like this a few seconds ago… huh? What’s wrong?” Ryuji responded “Dude! This ain’t normal, why’re you actin like it’s normal!?” After thinking for a few seconds, Akira thought of something “Ah maybe we’re dreamin-Ow!” Ann pinched him mid-sentence “Does it look like your dreaming? Honestly…” Shiho giggled in the background. “Well I’m having a look inside, you can all go home if you want.” “Ryuji stopped him again “H-hey you don’t even know what it's like in there, and why would you want to go in there anyway?” “I forgot something, I didn’t grab my textbooks” Ryuji sighed, seemingly giving in. “Fine, but I’m comin' with, and I really need to talk to you about a few things after, kay?” Akira nodded, this was the best compromise he could probably get.

Ann and Shiho stared after them. “Ann, did you meet him at some point earlier today?” Ann suddenly directed her attention towards Shiho “A-ah yeah, I guess. He helped me out a bit before school, but I never got to ask about his record…” “Record? What record?” Shiho asked, with a confused look. “You do know who he is, right? The new transfer student?” Shiho Gasped at this, “Really? But he seems nice enough, are you sure about the rumours? You know how they are at Shujin…” Both of them looked down.

“Hey, is anyone in here? I don’t know where the library is” Ryuji jumped “Shit dude, be quiet! We don’t know whats goin on here, so just be more careful. Wait, library? When did you go to the library?” Akira looked away “Hey, did you really leave you books here? Cos I think you’re bull shittin me“ Akia quickly pointed in the direction of a left wing hallway “…Hey look there are cosplayers walking down there, it looks like they’re carrying some kind of cat? It’s got a pretty big head though…”

*Dungeon?*

The cat-like being felt a sudden urge to yell how he wasn’t a cat, wonder why though? He’d been caught just now because he got distracted, that damn treasure chest was a trap, and he fell for it. Oh boy, that jerk was gonna pay for this, “Just you wait, I’m gonna kick your ass!” he looked over at the locked door “…As soon as I escape!”

“…Huh? Where am I? and why does my head feel like it got hit with something hard and heavy?” A grumpy voice responded “Take a wild guess… dammit I can’t believe whats happenin down here” Akira got up from some kind of rusty bed and looked around. “A jail cell? But I’m sure we were just in that dance party, cos we were all doing them old moves like the funky chicken and the macarena” Ryuji burst out laughing “Dude, you got the weirdest dreams ever, can’t wait to tell Ann when we get out of here.” Akira blinked “Out of here?”

*Outside Shujin?*

“How long have they been in there for, about an hour now right? God I should have stopped them” Shiho shook her head “No it probably would have happened anyway, you know how Ryuji can be and the transfer student seems a bit too curious for his own good.” Both girls chuckled a bit before taking a bit of a walk around “Huh? There’s like a wall here but it isn’t solid. Shiho, come help me for a sec.” Both pushed a bit harder into the wall before stumbling through. “Owww, that hurt. Shiho, are you oka… What?” “Yeah I’m fine Ann but what got your attention? Ah…” two voices spoke from their pockets “You have returned to the real world”

*Dungeon?*

After waiting for a while, Akira decided to look at the lock on the jail cell. “Looks like this only takes the correct key, ah well didn’t have any lockpicks on me anyway.” Ryuji noticed the statement “Lockpicks? Why d’you know how to make them?” Akira thought for a second before answering, “Well… My family are an interesting bunch I guess. Aunt Naoto taught me how to make them, in case of emergencies. I say family but… I’m not really related by blood, they’re just like a family to me though.” Ryuji nodded “Looks like you’ve got your own situation, huh. To be honest, I’ve done some stuff I regret, but what’s that about your record?” Before an answer could be made, the sound of footsteps could be heard coming closer.

“K-kamoshida? The hell’re you wearin!?”

*Velvet room*

The long-nosed creature laughed, watching the trickster prior to his awakening “You truly are a prisoner of fate, such a shame that this game is not yours to win. I cannot wait to see the outcome of this though, and how far you will get as another wildcard.” He resumed his amused chuckles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit late with this chapter because I needed to catch up on sleep, (two days without does a number on you haha)  
> plus I needed to actually think of what to put into the chapter and so this is what I went with. I have a few ideas but they're pretty vague So please feel free to tell me what you think, good and bad (I know about how I end up reusing some of the speaking lines, but its pure effort and I'm not a walking thesaurus.) Otherwise hope you enjoyed the chapter, and look forward to me putting more effort into future chapters hopefully  
> P.S. Should I just make it so that speech happens on different lines instead?


End file.
